MANITOWOC – The Manitowoc County Board on Thursday evening voted 17-2 to approve a litigation settlement of $85,000 in favor of Jim Theyerl, town of Manitowoc.

Introducing the resolution was the "most distasteful thing I've ever done as county board chair," said Jim Brey. "You can't yell fire in a crowded theater and call it free speech."

A federal judge earlier this year ruled that former Manitowoc County Board Chairman Paul "Biff" Hansen went too far in stifling Theyerl's constitutional right to express concerns about actions of county government and its employees.

The resolution stated that Theyerl made "defamatory statements about a specific county employee," referring to his claim at a June 2012 public input session that he could prove the employee had viewed pornography on a work computer.

The settlement includes an additional $65,000 in attorney's fees to the county's legal counsel.

County Corporation Counsel Steve Rollins said that the alternative to the resolution was prolonged litigation that would cost the county more money.

Hansen abstained from Thursday night's vote on the resolution since he was named in the action.

At the June 2012 County Board meeting, Theyerl, 65, said he had 13 witnesses to the alleged viewing of pornographic images. None appeared at a subsequent ethics hearing several months later involving the particular employee.

In a July 2012 letter, Hansen told Theyerl he takes the allegations seriously and asked him to provide the name of the employee, specific description of the alleged misconduct and other details.

Theyerl's attempts to speak during public input were rebuffed by Hansen when such documentation was not provided. Hansen said public input was not the time for unsubstantiated accusations.

"I certainly want to allow people to speak at county board meetings, but to remain civil," Brey said.

Raising jail housing fee

In another action, the county board voted 14-6 to raise the Manitowoc County Jail inmate housing fee from $18 a day to $22 a day.

The increase will become effective by Jan. 1, Brey said.

The move generated a lot of discussion on the part of the supervisors.

"We're talking about poverty-stricken people for the most part. When you take a poor person and they're not working and you try to charge them, it fails to pay," said supervisor Todd Holschbach, who likened the increase to debtor's prison and said many people would argue that this is adding a penalty for those who have already had their day in court.

"There are, I think, probably a good deal more poor people who are not in jail and wouldn't do anything to put themselves in jail," said supervisor Rick Gerroll, who supported the increase and said that the burden of paying for housing should fall to those who are incarcerated.

"I think that if we do raise it, we will have inmates quitting their jobs and not paying child support. We should be helping them rather than hurting them even more," said supervisor Rita Metzger.

"I'm more inclined to advocate for supporting this (increase)," said fellow supervisor Jim Falkowski. "It's not fair to taxpayers who are not criminals."